“ONLY A PENNY, SIR!”

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4536, 13 February 1942, Page 5

“ONLY A PENNY, SIR!”

POSTAL STAMPING MACHINE HOW IT WAS PUT OUT OF ORDER Complaint is occasionally heard, and public inconvenience sometimes created, by the inoperation of the stamp vending machine at the Post Office. Especially at night time, under partial blackout, is the stoppage of the machine'a vexatious matter and there are occasions wheh both machine add official service are cussed by those who suffer inconvenience. But it would be found, almost invariably, that instead of condemning the machine or blaming the officials, the complaint should more properly search out and deal with the previous user of the machine. All sorts of oddities are tried to test the apparatus. Recently it became blocked by a piece of cardboard cut to what seemed the size of a penny, even though it seems incredible that somebody should have gone to so much trouble in the hope of obtaining a “free” penny stamp. The machine was proof against deception, but besides foiling the fraudulent attempt, it ceased operation for all who followed on that night in quest of bona fide service. Public use, and not abuse of a facility, is all that is needed to assure the service provided ■ and intended.